The “Ecological” path to salvation —lacking a transcendent goal…

(CUSA) – As always with precision and insight Fr. Schall identifies the problems and illuminates the causes of disorder. The influence of Benedict XVI is palpable.

His reflection on ‘Laudato Si’ is measured and a cautionary evaluation of mixing science and opinion. —Ed.

FR. JAMES V. SCHALL, S.J.—

Not a few observers draw a parallel between the Galileo case and this one. It is a useful caution. The damage potential to the Church’s credibility is great if all the scientific evidence is not in or considered.

The best we can say for putting one’s eggs in the climate warmer basket is that many scientists, mostly those dependent on government subsidies to prove it is true, say it is so. The Pope’s own plea for “humility” in this document would seem to apply here concerning scientific questions that are at best hypotheses subject to change…

Human ecology as a theory of human control proposes as man’s end not a personal transcendent goal of each person, but an ongoing presence of the species over time. This is why individuals need to be controlled. Individuals are required to keep the species in existence.

This approach means that, in the name of population stability or limits of resources, governments can eliminate what is considered inimical to the well-being (common good) of the species.

Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg, for example, proposes to solve the problem by simply eliminating the poor by abortion and other means.

Since, unlike a creation theory, there is no personal destiny due to each person, the nobility of human action is reserved to those who devote their efforts to keeping the species in existence.

Generally, this approach limits the number of people allowed to be born or to continue so that the “carrying capacity” of the planet is proportioned to the estimated number of people the planet can be said to support…